Serendipity, Or By Design?
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: In the backstory for season seven's episode, Eloise Gardener... Captain Hook from the Wish Realm mysteriously found Mother Gothel disguised as Rapunzel, trapped inside a tall tower within the New Enchanted Forest after he followed a map which led him there, given to him by the Evil Queen also from the Wish Realm. However, was it chance that brought them together, or by design?


Serendipity, Or By Design?

One-Shot

Just over a year ago, the dark witch known as Mother Gothel to her sister witches, to those she had attempted to bring into her coven over the many, many years since the tree nymph had begun her long search for those who would willingly join her in destroying humanity until most witches eventually failed her in one way or another, and as was known to few others, had become imprisoned within the very tower she had enchanted with blood magic in order to entrap another, except that the exceptionally daring woman meant to become prisoner again had surprisingly caught her unawares and turned the tables against her instead.

But from the moment that her magic transported, then imprisoned her, Gothel had immediately begun to seek out other means that could free her in spite of knowing that only someone within her own bloodline could do so like she had told Rapunzel, who recently remarried her husband and became Lady Rapunzel Tremaine once again after his former wife abandoned her family for unknown reasons to everyone other than Rapunzel and Gothel. The trouble was, Gothel no longer had a bloodline after her only family had been killed by ruthless humans long ago.

So the leader of the witch coven immediately began to seek out all ways of magic of which she hoped to use to gain her freedom from the tower, as she turned to look closely at her surroundings, searching for anything within the tower she could use to help her. It wasn't long before her eyes fell upon a wall painting created by Rapunzel during her own six years of imprisonment, where a large black bird was soaring dangerously close to the sun. Gothel raised her hand so she could use her magic to pull the winged creature out from within the painting, and suddenly brought it to life.

Once it breathed life, the bird flew around the room until it finally perched itself upon one of the wooden beams beneath the tower's ceiling, while it stared down at the nymph who brought it to life in wait for its orders. Gothel smiled in her success as she stared into he creature's eyes, then commanded the bird to fly to her garden to pull another of her magic flowers for her with the hope its magic would be enough. Unfortunately, she soon learned that because Rapunzel had used the pollen from another of her flowers that the woman had stolen from her in order to imprison Gothel in the first place to protect her lifeless daughter, the flower's magic couldn't free her.

So Gothel tried again. Again and again she tried to free herself, until she finally wrote out a letter to the sisters within her coven whom she trusted most, then demanded that the black bird fly it to where her coven resided. After three days, the first of those recruited to join with her against all of humanity arrived at the tower at last, as Seraphina suddenly appeared before Mother Gothel within a cloud of red smoke.

"Here you are," the younger witch exclaimed in relief upon finding her leader and dearest sister at last, after Gothel had gone missing since she last left their grove to confront Rapunzel again. "Thank the Gods we have found you. We feared something terrible happened to you when you failed to return."

"Something terrible has happened, sister," the tree nymph coldly answered her. "The tables were turned on me. Rapunzel entrapped me here in this tower as I intended to do to her for a second time, and because I used blood magic to keep her here for good this time, no magic I know of can free me from this prison. Not even magic as powerful as my flowers from my garden, since the pollen from their petals is how I've become imprisoned. If I am to escape, I must begin a new bloodline. I must give birth to a child whom I can leave here in my place."

Seraphina looked at Gothel with surprise while she spoke, then she questioned with concern, "How can this be possible? No one outside of our coven and that wretched woman who has done this to you, knows of this tower. You chose it as Rapunzel's prison for its seclusion within this forest, knowing that no one would ever find her."

Mother Gothel turned her head and looked outside the window as she responded, "Indeed I did. Which is why I will need your help and the help of our sisters if I am to find a way to do what is needed. You all must search these lands and other realms near and far for a man whom I can use to my advantage. Someone whom I can easily manipulate and bend to my will so I can seduce him and give birth to a child, with help from one of my magical flowers. Someone… who has desperate need for something he cannot gain or achieve without powerful magic, which I myself possess and can offer him in exchange for what he will give to me in return."

"If we are to succeed in this, it will take time," the younger witch finally replied to her sister once more. "Perhaps a very long time. But if this is what you ask of us, then of course we will help you escape from this tower no matter how long it takes, and no matter what we must do. You have my word, Sister. You will not remain trapped here for very long."

"Thank you," the tree nymph sincerely answered the woman she recruited first into her coven, feeling truly touched by Seraphina's loyalty to her and devotion to their grand design that will one day wipe out all of humanity from this world.

With this said, Seraphina vanished from the tower at last to return to the rest of their sisters so they could begin their search for the man who would one day not only help Mother Gothel to restore her bloodline so she would be free, but who unbeknownst to them would also become a victim of their leader's own dangerous obsession as well.

Quite some time passed for Gothel while she lived as a prisoner inside the secluded tower deep within the forest, with only her flowers and other plants of her creation, and the black bird which she had magicked from the painting on the wall as her faithful companions, without hearing a single word from any of her sisters. How long it had been, she was unaware of after she had eventually given up keeping track of her days she remained trapped. And because she had, she had nearly given up all hope that her sister witches would ever return, whether they completed their task of finding this man who would soon be her salvation or not.

But then late one evening, just when she was preparing to lie down for bed, Seraphina returned to the tower at last and at first begged her sister's forgiveness for being away for so long without even sending word she and the other witches were drawing close to finding the man Gothel was seeking.

When she spoke, the younger witch spoke to her leader pleadingly saying, "Forgive us for being away for so long, Sister. We've searched many realms near and far just as you asked of us, although we found it difficult at times to find the magic beans and looking glasses needed to create the portals to help us jump between worlds. But at long last… I believe we have finally found the right man who can free you from these wretched walls. He's perfect. And he's even handsome. However, luring him here will take some careful and creative planning."

Gothel rose from her bed and walked over to stand in front of Seraphina, then with darkness in her eyes, the nymph responded darkly, "If you have truly found him, then of course you will be forgiven. But if not… I do hope for your sake you are right. Show him to me."

Seraphina timidly nodded in compliance, then she magically summoned an intricately fashioned mirror from the magical grove the coven resided in. A gold and silver framed looking glass that Gothel had taken among other possessions from Lady Isla's home after killing the spoiled woman and everyone else within her former kingdom out of revenge upon them slaughtering her family, and mounted it on the wall nearest to her leader so she could use mirror magic to conjure the images of the coven's prey. He was indeed handsome like Seraphina had said. Tall with hair as black as a raven's feathers, with deep blue eyes like the sea, and he was dressed all in black. From his look, Gothel could tell right away he was a pirate, and yet he only had one hand, while a sharpened silver hook served in place of his left hand.

Within the mirror's image, this pirate was standing over a beautiful prisoner in what appeared to be a dungeon within a castle, then he swiftly struck her unconscious and was about to kill her with his hook, until he suddenly turned around and came face to face with a much more elegant and regal woman who now stood before him in the doorway after she had stolen his hook in order to prevent him from killing the other girl.

Once the scene within the mirror began to play out, Seraphina continued, "In a distant realm we at last discovered come to be known as the Wish Realm, we heard rumors of a treacherous pirate Captain, who has made quite the name for himself throughout many realms including his own. A pirate whom everyone fears. Madame Leota and I sought him out to see for ourselves if any of the stories spoken about him were true, and as far as we could tell, he's every bit the villain he appears to be. Therefore, we believe can be of perfect use to you."

_She then stopped talking so her dearest friend could watch as the scene within the mirror continued to play out, and the pirate darkly questioned the woman the witches didn't yet know to be the Evil Queen of the Wish Realm, "__Do I look like I'm playing a game of chess? My hook, if you please."_

_ "No," Regina haughtily replied him, once she closed the door as they continued to talk._

_ "The asking was me being a gentleman," Hook sternly retorted as he approached the villainess without fear of her in his eyes._

_ "Is that any way to address a Queen?" she asked him snidely while continuing to hold his hook within her hand, then slowly began to walk around him as she studied the man who slaughtered her guards to break into her palace's prison. "Even a pirate should have better manners than that. Yes… I know who you are… Captain. I know why you came here from Neverland. And I know all about the crocodile you wish to skin."_

_ "Then you also know that I'll stop at nothing," he coldly answered her._

_ The villainess finally stopped circling him and stood before him again as she responded in admiration, "So dedicated and resourceful. No one has been able to fight their way past my defenses before. She can't help you kill Rumplestiltskin, Hook… But I can, if you do something for me. Care to join me for a drink?"_

_ Gothel continued to study the scene playing out within the mirror closely while the Evil Queen guided the pirate Captain through the corridors until they reached another large room within the place, then poured two drinks before handing one over to Hook as she spoke again with confidence saying, "Things are about to change in this world. Radically. I have plans to enact a curse that will take everyone to a far off land."_

_ "How will that help me?" Hook then questioned again more skeptically._

_ "This new realm?" she replied again upon turning around to face him once more, and then approached him as she placed the top of his hook under his chin to lift his head up so that their eyes became level to one another's. "It's a land without magic. Where the Dark One will be stripped of his powers. There… you won't need any magical weapon to kill him. You can do it with a mere flick of your wrist."_

_ Captain Hook of the Wish Realm looked at the villainess stoically as he demanded, "Tell me what I have to do."_

_ The Evil Queen turned and walked away from him as she answered coldly, "There's one person I don't want following me to this new land. You're to see to it that doesn't happen."_

_ "An assassination," he stated seeming to be impressed and even eager about the task at hand. "Who is it you want me to dispose of?"_

_ "My mother," Regina cruelly responded as she turned her head to look at him._

Gothel smiled in her own admiration for the handsome pirate within the looking glass before her, when Hook then complied to the villainess as he said darkly, "I know what it's like to be disappointed by a parent. Tell me… exactly what did your mother do to you that would warrant such cruelty from her lovely daughter?"

Regina's demeanor suddenly changed then as she glared at him while she retorted brusquely, "Why I want my mother dead is my business! Not yours. Surely a cold blooded killer and pirate such as yourself doesn't care about the details as to why I want her dead. So long as you get what you want in exchange. The real question is… are you willing to kill her for me? Or not?"

"Very well, Your Majesty… I accept," Hook smugly responded to her, then suavely approached the Evil Queen once more as his face grew cold. "So long as helping you, helps me gain my bloody revenge against the Crocodile who cut off my hand and murdered the woman I loved. Besides… I wouldn't mind leaving this cursed land for awhile, no matter where your mother may be hiding herself. The Wish Realm has grown much too small for my liking."

"Excellent," the Evil Queen replied as she smiled again, then poured the pirate Captain another drink. "Then we have more to talk about. You see, once I cast this curse… you will at last be able to skin yourself a crocodile, and I will finally be able to make Snow White and her insipid Prince Charming pay for destroying my own happiness. From their misery… comes my happy ending. And yours too, of course."

Once the images within the mirror faded at last, Mother Gothel's first recruit spoke again softly saying, "Upon learning of this pirate, and finally finding him after it took us some time to track him down after this conversation between him and the Evil Queen took place, we started to have him followed. This meeting took place a few days ago. And the Evil Queen has yet to cast her curse, which means…"

Gothel understood where Seraphina's thoughts had taken her and finished for her as she answered, "Which means I can use this pirate's lust for revenge to my own advantage."

"There were other potentials, Sister," Seraphina responded again. "But one by one, they all became… nothing but disappointments. So far… this pirate has not. Perhaps this time, with careful planning, you can be the one to test him. Since all of the others have failed our sisters' tests, including my own. I truly believe he's the one you've been waiting for. However… he appears to be ever so ruthless. How will you know if you can bend him to your will?"

"He may appear to be nothing but a ruthless pirate out only for himself…" the tree nymph replied as she once more conjured an image of Captain Hook's face within the mirror and looked deep into the storminess within his eyes. "But he spoke of his lost love, which means he isn't heartless. There's a darkness in his eyes and yet the darkness masks the pain behind them as well. I suspect there's more to this pirate than meets the eye."

The younger witch smiled and then she questioned, "What would you have me do now then, Sister? How will you test him, especially while continuing to remain trapped here in your tower?"

Mother Gothel turned away from her sister and walked into the center of the room where she suddenly conjured her old cauldron that she hadn't used for a very long time, then without raising her head again to look at Seraphina while she began to brew a potion as she cast a number of ingredients into the now boiling waters within her cauldron, she answered, "If I am to succeed in drawing Hook from this… Wish Realm here to me, we first must make sure that the Evil Queen fails to cast her dark curse. She spoke of her enemies. This… Snow White and Prince Charming. I'm going to help them defeat the Evil Queen so that I can use her to help me draw Hook here to me."

"And this potion you are brewing will help you do this?" Seraphina asked her with curiosity.

"So long as you give it to these heroes while in disguise of someone they trust and they accept my offering," the coven leader sternly responded as she continued working. "Work quickly to learn of them and then offer them my potion from someone of great magic who could help them accomplish a feat such as defeating the Evil Queen. Assure them that it will steal away the Evil Queen's magic so that she will become powerless against them."

Seraphina nodded as she took a vial now containing the brewed potion that Gothel then handed over to her once she finished, and looked into her sister's eyes once more while she replied, "Of course, Gothel. But how will this help to draw the pirate here?"

Gothel smiled darkly as she answered, "You leave that to me. Once I have been freed from my prison, I shall return to our home in my grove and share the rest of my plan to you and our sisters then."

Nearly a week later…

A message from Madame Leota arrived for Gothel within her tower by bird, that told her Snow White and the Prince had succeeded in rendering the Evil Queen powerless thanks to the potion of her design. Now, the rest of the plan was up to her. The other villainess was desperate as she now sought her own freedom to escape from her enemies who were hunting her. Mother Gothel would need to offer the Evil Queen that escape, which is where Captain Hook would soon come into her intricate plan at last.

The tree nymph used her dark magic within her to finally conjure a parchment, then summoned her black bird and demanded that the creature carry it to the Evil Queen so he could to deliver it for her. The bird squawked before taking the old parchment up within its beak, then at last flew off to seek out the Queen within the Wish Realm once Mother Gothel opened up a portal outside the tower's window for it to fly through using a looking glass that was useless to free herself.

When the creature found the villainess it sought out inside a dimly lit cave within the mountain just beyond the far reaches of her kingdom where she hid herself from the royals, it dropped the folded up parchment at the Evil Queen's feet in front of her and squawked once again before it flew off to return to the sisters of its master's coven, who stayed within the Wish Realm to keep watch over both the villainess and the pirate Captain for Mother Gothel like she had commanded of them.

Regina stared up at the bird with surprise and suspicion until it flew away, then warily reached down to pick up the piece of parchment the creature delivered to her from an unknown source. She slowly unfolded it and looked down upon it in annoyance when she discovered the parchment was blank, until all of a sudden, Mother Gothel's image magically appeared from it seconds later, as a message for the Queen played out.

"Hello, Your Majesty…" Gothel began once she spoke to the Evil Queen, who kept her eyes solely on the magic emanating from the parchment before her. "Forgive me for being unable to come to see you in person so I could offer to you this gift which I have just bestowed upon you. You will see it for yourself in a few moments. But first you must understand why I have done so. My name is Mother Gothel. I am a tree nymph, the last of my kind. I know of many things. And therefore, I know of your predicament upon since losing your magic. That you are now being hunted down by the Snow White and her beloved Prince Charming from your land. On this parchment, there is a map which leads to a tall tower deep within the forest of my realm that is also revealed upon it. In this tower… I have become a prisoner and I wish to be free, as you too wish to become free from those who seek to imprison or to kill you. This map can give you your freedom, Your Majesty. So long as you seek out another villain, whom I understand you've had dealings with in the past. Captain Hook. He is the only one who can give me the freedom I seek. Give him this parchment that will lead him here to my tower so he can free me from its prison, in exchange for dark magic powerful enough to help him gain his revenge he has long sought against the Dark One. Tell him this. I am certain he won't be able to refuse one last chance for revenge. And if you do this, you can offer this map to the pirate in exchange for safe passage out of the Wish Realm, to a new world where the Princess and Prince won't ever be able to find you. Do this, Your Majesty… and you will never have to worry about your enemies finding you again. You too can be free."

At last, Gothel's image dispersed as the magic within that allowed for her to appear before the villainess then spread across the parchment, finally revealing the map to the tower just as the witch now known to Regina as Mother Gothel had said it would. Regina smiled down upon the map and carefully studied it, before she finally refolded it, then concealed it within her corset. Once she did so, the Evil Queen prepared for her trek from the cave and left to seek out Captain Hook, whom she suspected to be waiting for her word about having succeeded at last in casting her dark curse somewhere within the port near where he tied off his ship, the Jolly Roger.

From the moment she conjured the map and had it delivered to the Evil Queen, the witch still trapped within the tower somewhere in the New Enchanted Forest used mirror magic to keep watch over the other villainess, looking through all kinds of reflections around to keep sight of her, from mirrors to mere drops of rain. And three days later, she at last watched through the glass within a window of a tavern nearby as the villainess appeared before the handsome pirate she hoped would soon become her savior from the tower.

_"__We are going to a land without magic, Mr. Smee," both Gothel and the Evil Queen from the Wish Realm overheard the Captain of the Jolly Roger say to his first mate once the villainess walked out into the main square within the port upon approaching Hook and his band of pirates without fear.__ "__And once the Evil Queen casts her curse, I will finally get my revenge on the Dark One."_

_ Out of frustration, the Evil Queen then spoke out brusquely from behind Hook responding, "__Actually, you won't be going anywhere.__And neither will I."_

_ Hook turned around to face her, then with confusion, he asked, "__Your Majesty, shouldn't you be casting your curse?"_

_ "Well, I would be…" she curtly retorted once she walked up to stand before the pirate Captain she had once made a deal with.__ "__If that insipid Snow White and her Charm-less Prince hadn't stopped me.__"_

_ "__How the bloody hell did they do that?" he asked her once more out of surprise by her revelation._

_ The villainess wretchedly replied, "They stole my magic."_

_ Smee then leaned in towards his Captain and spoke less softly than he intended to as he questioned, "Snow White defeated the Evil Queen? I did not see that coming."_

_ The Evil Queen glared menacingly at the first mate, then raised her hand out in anger in attempt to use her magic to choke the life out of the big man for being impertinent like she would have done to anyone who spoke out against her, until she quickly remembered her magic was no longer a part of her when she couldn't even use magic to lash out against her enemies. Regina let out a whimper in disappointment, then dropped her hand in defeat._

_ "That looks frustrating," Hook callously uttered as he studied the Evil Queen's bitter disappointment, until it suddenly dawned on him that without her magic, she wouldn't be able to cast the dark curse and that he too was about to feel the same bitter disappointment._

_ As he looked into her eyes, he spoke again darkly saying, "Hang on... If your curse isn't cast, then my chance at revenge is lost as well."_

_ However, Regina smiled as she pulled a folded piece of parchment from her bosom and then answered him playfully, "Perhaps. As it happens, I need a ship to take me away from this wretched land before they find me. That's why I brought along this… Payment, for passage on your ship. It's a map to a tower in a distant realm. It holds magic strong enough to defeat an immortal. Like your Crocodile."_

_ "All magic comes with a price," the pirate curtly responded to her once more after he listened to the Evil Queen's proposal, not being able to help but wonder if her offer was too good to be true. "What is it?"_

_ "The tower's guarded by an evil witch," she smugly replied to him, then quickly added the worst part about the revelation. "And without my powers, you're on your own. __So… do we have a deal?"_

_ It was then that Hook took the map from the Evil Queen's hand with a confident lift of his brow as he answered haughtily, "If she has what you say she does, then of course we do."_

And upon hearing Hook's agreement, knowing that wouldn't be long before the handsome pirate would soon be coming to find her within her tower prison, Mother Gothel smiled as he had, then cut off her magic. Now all she had to do was prepare for his arrival and wait.

However, she quickly realized that she couldn't appear to him as herself, knowing that her appearance made it obvious she was the evil witch that the pirate believed he might have to fight in order to gain the magic he was coming to seek out. So, Gothel raised her hands and waved them over her body as she suddenly transformed into the very woman who had trapped her inside the tower in order to make herself appear as a damsel in distress, knowing that Rapunzel's beauty and her act of deception would no doubt appeal to the pirate Captain and lure him perfectly into her trap.

Hours passed, and still there was no sign of Hook, causing Gothel to grow ever more impatient while she continued to wait for his arrival. While she sat within her chair away from the only window, her mind drifted off as she began to sing softly to herself, until she was suddenly interrupted when Hook at last entered the tower after he had climbed up its walls so he could. While the witch wasn't at all surprised by his arrival or by his handsome features, the Captain on the other hand, was stunned upon finding a lovely maiden within the tower and even more so when he learned she was a prisoner trapped by the evil witch believed to be guarding the tower. Unfortunately, Hook was completely unaware that her tragic tale was no more than a creative lie spun by the true evil witch now standing before him, and that his entire reason for finding her and the tower wasn't serendipity, but by Mother Gothel's elaborate design.

He and the witch spoke of how he believed he had come to be there and why she had become a prisoner, then Gothel told Hook of a Golden Flower with magical properties, powerful enough to not only free her from the tower, but also powerful enough to imprison the Dark One within a similar prison from which he would never be able to escape. However, before the woman pretending to be Rapunzel told the pirate where he could find the witch's garden in which this magical flower grew, she ominously questioned him of his intentions, fearing he might not return to free her if he succeeded in stealing it. The dark pirate callously told her she had no choice but to trust him since no one else would be coming to save her, then finally climbed back down the tower walls once she gave in and told him where to go to find the witch's garden. And once he was gone, all Gothel could do was wait, trusting that the good she believed she had seen in him within her mirror would come through.

_Two hours later, Gothel became pleased when her hero returned and entered the tower once again through its window, as she turned in her chair to look upon him with surprise and uttered, "You came back."_

_ "Yep," he plainly responded to her as she stood up so she could walk over to him, then looked down upon his only hand once he reached into his back pocket to pull out that which would give them both what they wanted. "And I haven't returned empty handed. Your Golden Flower, M'lady… freshly plucked."_

_ "You really did it," the witch eagerly exclaimed with a gasp, until her countenance once again grew somber, though she continued to smile at him. "I have to admit, a little surprised. I didn't expect you to return."_

_ The Captain replied again honestly while he too smiled upon her, "Nor did I. But it turns out, abandoning people just isn't my thing."_

_ As though with gratitude, she answered, "That's lucky for me."_

_ "Look, I, um…" Hook then began to state anxiously, after he then followed behind the fair maiden once she turned to walk away from him so she could set the magical flower within a vase where it would remain preserved until she was ready to use it. "I know how one of those petals can help me get my revenge. But how's it gonna help you get out of this tower?"_

_ "You don't need to be bothered by the details, especially after everything that you've already done," Gothel responded once more when she turned to face him and looked gently into his eyes, while she seductively began to roam her hands over his chest. "The important thing is, I will finally be free. And there are many, many things I have not done in a very long time."_

_ The witch then leaned in close so she could kiss the handsome pirate, and had nearly done so until he apprehensively pulled back enough to be able to say, "Uh… perhaps we should leave the tower first, love."_

_ However, she started to push him back towards the bed with more ferocity once she retorted, "Perhaps not."_

"It's time… I took what I want," she finally added in between her kisses once they fell down onto her bed, then she passionately began to make love to him, and he to her.

Early the next morning…

_"__That was a hell of a night, love," Captain Hook said proudly as he stood up from the bed where he had made love with Rapunzel, the beautiful woman he believed to be innocent, who was now standing at the window of the tower looking out of it, then he returned his cutlass to his scabbard once again at his side after he finished getting dressed and finally walked over to stand with her._

_She smiled smugly and then turned around to face her pirate while she replied, "Yes, it was. Can't quite remember another like it."_

_As he leaned in close to kiss her once again, he answered, "Aye."_

_ "__What the hell was that?" he then asked strangely, when he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a baby crying from a far corner of the room and turned his head to look for its source._

_ "__That little cry…" she began as the baby cried even louder, then reached up to caress Hook's left cheek before she walked away from him to move over to the child's bassinette. "…is the sound of my freedom."_

_Hook followed after her while he asked again more curtly, "Where did you get a baby from?"_

_Rapunzel leaned down to pick up the baby as she replied, "The usual place. Like you said, it was quite a night."_

_ "__No, no, no, no, no," he uttered in disbelief of what she was trying to tell him. "That can't be. It's not possible."_

_ "__Not if there's magic involved," she answered coldly, then suddenly transformed into her true self to reveal to him who and what she really was._

_Killian stared at her in shock at first until he quickly pulled his sword from its scabbard again to defend himself should she attack, then spoke again saying, "You… you're the witch."_

_She looked down at the child no longer crying while in her arms and then looked back at him again as she responded cruelly, "I prefer Gothel. I have to say, I had no idea getting what I needed was going to be that enjoyable."_

_ "__If you're the witch who guards the tower, then where's Rapunzel?" he questioned while continuing to hold his blade out._

_ "__Oh, that's a tragic tale," Gothel replied coldly when she finally laid their baby back down within her bassinette again. "I built the tower to imprison Rapunzel. But she managed to turn the tables and trapped me instead."_

_Hook glared at her darkly while he finally lowered the cutlass and retorted, "That's why you needed the flower."_

_The witch walked up to him again and began to seduce him like before, reaching up to tenderly caress his face once more as she answered, "Not the flower, but you. The flower imprisoned me, which means it couldn't free me."_

_ "__The only way I can escape this prison is by leaving someone in my bloodline to take my place," she continued when Killian resisted her advances by turning his head away from her, so she returned to the window, then raised her hand to test the magical barrier keeping her trapped inside until it vanished, indicating she was finally free at last as she gasped with relief and exhaled._

_ "__That's where you came in," Gothel added when she turned around again to look at her lover once more. "The power from the petal just sped up the process. But don't worry. I left you a petal. It's small, but there's more than enough magic for what you need. Shall we?"_

_When she indicated she wished for him to leave with her from the tower, Killian asked angrily, "So, you're just gonna leave and abandon this baby here?"_

_The witch rolled her eyes when he suddenly became noble, then responded, "Oh, don't look at me like that."_

_ "__You're a pirate on a quest for revenge," Gothel darkly continued as she walked up to him again and roamed her hand over his chest to try to allure him to follow her while he struggled to keep on resisting her. "I'm sure more than one innocent person has paid the price on that little journey. What do you say I come with you and help you get your revenge, and then you come with me and help me get mine?"_

_ "__You got what you needed…" Hook replied her with finality, as he suddenly pulled her hand away. "…and so did I. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"_

_She stared at him with coldness in her eyes while she retorted, "Suit yourself… love."_

_Gothel sauntered back to the window, then climbed up onto its threshold after she glanced back at him and added cruelly, "And don't brood for too long."_

Hook stared after her in disbelief for moments even after she vanished upon jumping from the tower's window. However, his thoughts were disrupted again upon hearing the baby cry once more and he turned his head again towards where she still laid within her bassinette where her mother left her.

At last, he slowly approached the child and from the moment he looked down upon her once he stood over her, Hook knew he couldn't abandon her like the woman who had given birth to her had done. She was no mother. However, he could be a father to the girl, whom he felt right away was his child, as she was not only born from the evil witch, but from him as well. And he already loved her as any father loved his daughter. All he had to do now, was return to the port where his crew and his ship remained, long enough to turn the Jolly Roger over to her new Captain, then to assure the Evil Queen their deal would remain intact despite Mr. Smee being the one to take up the helm.

Meanwhile…

The tree nymph and leader of the witches' coven at long last returned to her grove where she and her sisters resided together and have for many, many years while they bided their time in wait for the chance when they could one day unleash their wrath upon the world. Seraphina and the rest of their sisters greeted her with open arms, then asked what had come of the pirate.

"I had hoped he was smart enough to join me on my own quest for revenge, so long as I helped him to gain his," Gothel somberly responded, as she walked over to another of her mirrors and summoned a magical window to look upon the pirate Captain once more, seeing that he had returned to his band of pirates and the Evil Queen waiting for him within the port. "Yet he's more of a fool than I thought him to be. He shunned me. Refused my offer to help him get his revenge against the Dark One. Because the love I saw still inside of him overpowered his lust, as he turned that love upon the child we bore last night after making love. He couldn't abandon her and now has done the honorable thing. No one rejects me without paying the price dearly. He will pay for having such honor."

"With the Curse of the Poisoned Heart," she then whispered with a cruel smile. "But first… I wish to keep my eyes on him for a time. To see what comes of him and the child over time. Should he let her into his heart fully, his pain will only be that much worse for him when I come back into his life, and that much more pleasurable for me."

The End


End file.
